Raid on the Articulate

by Crossan, John Dominic

• ISBN13: 9781556358227
• ISBN10: 1556358229
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-01
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

John Dominic Crossan'sIn Parablesdemonstrated how Jesus's parables demolished an idolatry of time. In this book, he shows how the parables likewise preclude an idolatry of language.In a new, creative synthesis,Raid on the Articulatejuxtaposes the sayings and parables of Jesus with the works of modern Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges to reveal fresh interpretations. Crossan locates both men as literary iconoclasts, parablers who can evoke for us the other side of silence. The gift they bring is cosmic eschatology, the ability to stand on the brink of nonsense and absurdity and not be dizzy.The discussion begins withComedy and Transcendence, a comedy too deep for laughter. Language is seen most openly and acknowledged most freely as structured play, opening the narrow gate to transcendence. This precludes language being mistaken for the gate itself.This in turn raises the question ofForm and Parody. As Crossan writes, Why mock the craftsman skilled in silver and gold and not mock the artisan skilled in form and genre? What if the aniconic God became trapped in icons made of language? In Jesus we find the most magisterial warning against graven words and encapsulation of God in case law, proverb, or beatitude.When Jesus says, Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it he presents a paradox insoluble by faith in language. Borges performs a similar function in literature when he inserts footnotes referring to nonexistent books. Both are arguing against the idolatry of imprisoning reality in the words that point to it.Parable and Paradoxmakes the case for parable as paradox formed into story. It is in this context that Jesus and Borges must be understood. Analyzing many of Jesus's parables, especially The Good Samaritan, and comparing them structurally to Borges's work, Crossan sees them as single or double reversals of their audiences most profound expectations. It is these that lend them both their power and their paradox.Raid on the Articulateconcludes with considerations of the plasticity of time in Jesus and Borges and what, finally, we can say about them as men from their fragile and aphoristic art.Emphasizing both biblical and literary materials, John Dominic Crossan achieves a deepened understanding of New Testament texts and forms, an understanding possible only when the unique literary aspect of Jesus's sayings is acknowledged.

Author Biography

John Dominic Crossan is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at DePaul University, Chicago

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Theme	p. 1
Variations	p. 7
Comedy and Transcendence	p. 9
Prelude: The People of the Secret	p. 9
Tragedy	p. 11
A Greek Prejudice
Oedipus the King
The Dark Laughter of Zeus
The Victory of the Comic
Comedy	p. 16
A Narrow Escape into Faith
The New Sense of the Comic
Dark Comedy
The Bias of Comedy
Death unto Resurrection
Play	p. 23
The Search of Averroes
Homo Ludens
Homo Ludens Revisited
The Play of World
Breaks, Fissures, and Cracks
The Range of Comic Play
Structure	p. 33
A System of Transformations
Structured Play
In the Beginning
The Ritual Process
Literature	p. 38
Language as Play
Language as Supreme Play
The Conscience of Language
Defamiliarization
The New in Literature
Transcendence	p. 43
A Great and Secret Plan
The Comic and the Holy
Biblical Laughter
At the Limits of Language
Postlude: The Secret of the People	p. 50
Form and Parody	p. 55
Iconoclasm	p. 55
No Graven Images
From Images to Words
No Graven Words
Genre	p. 60
Literature as System
Generic Transformations
Law	p. 63
Case Law
Case Interpretation
Case Parody
Beyond Morality
Proverb	p. 69
Proverbial Wisdom?
Paradoxical Aphorism
Beyond Wisdom
Beatitude	p. 73
Proverb to Prayer
Blessed the Poor
From an Apocryphal Gospel
Novel	p. 77
Footnotes in Stories
Reviews of Unwritten Books
Projects for Unwritten Books
Real and Imaginary Authors
Small, Hard, and Bright
Mimesis	p. 89
The Book as Too Much
The Book as Too Little
The Mimetic Fallacy
Towards the Source
Paradox and Parable	p. 93
Paradox	p. 93
Contemporary Parable
Biblical Parable
Myth and Parable
Parable	p. 99
Borges on Jesus
The Good Samaritan
Metonymy and Metaphor
Borges as Parabler
Allegory	p. 115
Ideas or Images
Borges on Allegory
Motives for Allegory
Allegory as Play
Parables and Allegories
Time and Finitude	p. 133
Time	p. 133
Six Distinctions
Star-Time and Story-Time
Circle	p. 138
Borges on Time
Circular Time
The Circle of Play
Line	p. 144
Prophecy and Apocalyptic
Immortality as Idolatry
Jesus on Apocalyptic
Borges on Immortality
Plot	p. 153
The Hidden Treasure
Other Stories, Other Treasures
Time and Theme
Person and Persona	p. 165
Persona	p. 165
Intention and Personality
Revelation's Imminence
Borges	p. 170
Borges and "Borges"
Borges as "Borges"
Borges and Comic Eschatology
Jesus	p. 174
Jesus, Christ, and Lord
The Historical Jesus
Jesus and Comic Eschatology
Orpheus	p. 179
Lyre and Voice
Play and Death
Notes	p. 183
Abbreviations, Editions, Bibliographies	p. 199
Index of Citations	p. 201
Index of Authors	p. 205
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